SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Federal housing officials this week declared the city's 20-year-old lead program ineligible for funding unless Syracuse repays $1.48 million to make up for mishandling previous grants.

Rejecting pleas for leniency from Syracuse's congressional representatives, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the city until midnight Friday to pay if the city wants to be considered for the current round of funding. Syracuse applied this week for a new $3.5 million grant.

Without additional federal funding, the Syracuse lead program will run out of money in August 2015, city officials say.

U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, D-Syracuse, has requested a meeting with high-level HUD officials in hopes of brokering a solution, said Whitney Mitchell, a spokeswoman. Maffei and New York's two senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, asked HUD last month to continue funding the Syracuse lead program.

In a written response dated Tuesday, a HUD official said Syracuse must repay the $1.48 million to restore the city's eligibility for grants. But Matthew Ammon, acting director of HUD's Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, appeared to leave room for a last-minute compromise.

"The city has not made a counter-offer beyond our waiving the repayment requirement,'' Ammon wrote. "We would certainly consider a reasonable counter-offer.''

Launched in 1994, the Syracuse lead program has treated or removed hazardous lead from more than 2,400 households with young children. The toxic metal, a common ingredient in paint until 1978, can cause serious health problems even in small amounts. Children under age 6, who are the most susceptible, often suffer lead poisoning from breathing in or swallowing dust from old lead paint that settles on floors and windowsills.

In January 2013, following a site visit, HUD officials identified several significant problems with the Syracuse lead program, which pays private contractors to work on income-eligible homes. City officials billed HUD for work before it was completed, in violation of the rules, while also delaying payments to contractors after jobs were finished, according to HUD.

The most serious deficiency - the one city officials have been unable to resolve -- was a failure to thoroughly document the presence of lead before authorizing renovations. HUD demanded repayment of $1.48 million, almost all of which the city spent to replace windows that had not been individually tested for high lead levels.

Syracuse administrators said they were not aware that HUD's guidelines had changed to require more stringent testing. Officials in other cities had also expressed confusion about testing protocols.

In his letter, Ammon said HUD has offered Syracuse officials a compromise: Pony up $1.48 million of city money for additional lead abatement work, and HUD would continue to make federal funding available. "The city declined this offer,'' Ammon wrote.

Syracuse officials have said they don't have the money. City officials could not be reached immediately this morning for further comment.